International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised AviadoBio Ltd, a pioneering gene therapy company focused on developing and delivering transformative medicines for people living with neurodegenerative disorders, on its $80 million (£58.6 million) Series A financing round.
The Osborne Clarke team was headed by Partner Justin Starling and Associate Director Elizabeth Yell from the corporate team, with intellectual property expertise from Associate Director Chris Pratt.
The Series A financing round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and co-led by Monograph Capital, with participation from LSP, as well as seed investors Advent Life Sciences, Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), F-Prime Capital, JJDC and medical research charity LifeArc. The funds will be used to advance AviadoBio’s lead program in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) into the clinic, progress its preclinical assets, including for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), whilst continuing to expand its industry-leading team.
AviadoBio’s technology was developed in the laboratory of Christopher Shaw, Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, with the support of the UK Dementia Research Institute, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and the Van Geest Foundation, and incubated by F-Prime Capital and JJDC.
AviadoBio is led by recently appointed Chief Executive Officer and Board member Lisa Deschamps, former Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer at Novartis Gene Therapies. Lisa brings more than 25 years of biopharma experience including leading the global neuroscience business of Novartis and the worldwide commercialization of its gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy. Lisa commented, “I am excited about the promise we can bring to people living with neurodegenerative disease, where a significant unmet medical need remains with only symptomatic therapies currently available. Our differentiated approach has the potential to transform the treatment landscape and we have the opportunity with our group of experienced investors, our advisors and founders, to change the lives of people living with these debilitating conditions. The expansion of our team and investor syndicate, positions AviadoBio to make this mission a reality while advancing the field.”
Osborne Clarke has a market-leading international venture capital practice and is widely recognized as a leading European law firm for companies operating in the life science and healthcare sector. The Venture Capital team is ranked tier one by The Legal 500 and has experts across London, the Thames Valley and Bristol. It has an outstanding track record advising start-ups, global market leaders, angel investors and institutional VC/growth capital investors on funding rounds, follow-on rounds, venture debt facilities, IPOs, trade sales and buy & build projects.
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